Pokémon: The Curse of Temple Island
by PsyCisco
Summary: When Giovanni, the notorious leader of Team Rocket, enlists the help of a young Pokémon trainer to travel to a mysterious island where a legendary Pokémon is said to live, will they find more than they bargained for...?
1. The Island In Question

His fist slammed onto the desk, making the penholder and glass of brandy tremor. Picking up the glass and sipping, Giovanni thought aloud; "How hard can it be?"

Upon hearing his projected thoughts, a young girl dressed in a Team Rocket uniform entered the darkened room. She was no more than twenty years old, had shoulder-length purple hair and wore a serious expression, though with a hint of fear in the presence of Giovanni. She spoke aloud.

"Sir, please understand, the island in question has not been documented by human beings for generations; we are not even so sure it exists."

"Things like this don't just make themselves up, Marion!" snapped Giovanni, slamming down his drink once more. The Persian sleeping on the rug winced.

"I don't care how difficult it may be to find it, Temple Island is somewhere on the seas, and I want it found!"

Marion looked down slightly, giving up hope of ever winning the argument. "Yes, sir" she said doefully, and left the room.

"Hrmph..." let out Giovanni, and turned to stare at the sunset through the thin strips of his window blinds. "The ancient Pokémon of Temple Island...I will find you..."


	2. The Road To Viridian City

"Marco, wait up!"

"No, why don't you hurry up?"

Tara's walk turned to a jog as she tried to catch up with her friend Marco. The country road leading to Viridian City was very picturesque, the kind of place you would enjoy a leisurely stroll or a picnic; not hurry as fast as you could to be somewhere. But right now, getting to Viridian City and winning another badge was all Marco had on his mind.

"The gym isn't going to move, you know!" gasped Tara as she caught up.

"Would you stop complaining? I'm only two badges away from entering the Indigo Plateau!"

This was true. They had come from a small town in Johto called Cherrygrove. Marco's dream was to be a famous Pokémon master, and he had already made quite a name for himself; he had won all eight Johto gym badges and done well in the Johto league championships. His friend Tara also raised Pokémon, but had only really joined him on his journey to see the sights and keep him out of trouble. So far he had collected six of the eight Kanto badges and was headed to the Viridian gym to get his seventh.

As they quickly made their way to the city in a power-walk, they spotted a fellow trainer traveling in the opposite direction. He had the look of a Japanese samurai; his black hair was tied up and he wore loose, baggy clothes and sandals. Most noticably he was walking with a large stick. As the three came closer, Marco and Tara were ready to wish him good day, but the person spoke first.

"Excuse me good sir, but you look like a Pokémon trainer."

"Uhh, I sure am!" replied Marco hazily.

"May I ask you to join me in combat in a one-on-one Pokémon battle?"

Marco was always keen to battle new trainers, but all he could think about at the moment was his next gym battle.

"Sorry, but I really want to get to Viridian gym!" he said apologetically as they continued past the trainer. The trainer however, did not move and looked back at them.

"The Viridian gym is the most elite of all the gyms in Kanto. Surely you could do with some extra training with me."

Marco stopped. Tara continued walking until she realised he had, then paced back.

"Alright..." smirked Marco, turning to look at the ninja.

"Excellent. My name is Akira." said the trainer, bowing his head to Marco. Marco hesitated, then did the same.

"And I am Marco."

"Well then Marco," began Akira, "Which Pokémon will you be using?"

Tara moved her jet black hair out of her eyes and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Be careful Marco..."

"Don't worry Tara," replied Marco, taking a Pokéball from his belt. "I choose you, Quilava!" he continued, throwing the Pokéball into the air. It opened and released Quilava, which had evolved from the first Pokémon he'd received; Cyndaquil.

"And I choose you, Poliwrath!"

Poliwrath emerged from Akira's Pokéball and glared intimidatingly at Quilava. Quilava, however, was a sturdy little Pokémon, and did not back down."Careful, Marco," warned Tara, worried. "Poliwrath has a type advantage over Quilava."

"No worries, Tara, I know what I'm doing!" replied Marco confidently. "Right Quilava..."

"Quil!" shot back the Pokémon.

Without word, Akira jumped into a combat pose.

"Poliwrath, use your Water Gun attack."

"Dodge it, Quilava, and use Tackle!"

Poliwrath put one foot forward and blasted a jet of water from the center of its spiral. Quilava lowered itself slightly and ran underneath the levitating river, steam forming where the water hit the flames on its back. It leaped and rammed into Poliwrath, who was dazed for a moment.

"Follow it up with Fire Spin!" commanded Marco. Obeying its long-time trainer and friend, Quilava opened its mouth and like Poliwrath's Water Gun, let out a train of red-hot fire. It made contact with Poliwrath and it was engulfed in a mini-inferno.

"Poliwrath!" cried Akira, a slight tone of concern in his voice. "Poliwrath, Water Spin now!"

Hearing its master through the thick flames, Poliwrath began to pirouette while spraying water, dousing the flames gradually. It had suffered from burns and was getting tired. "Ha, easy!" bragged Marco in an annoying tone. "Now Quilava...finish it off with Body Slam."

"Quila-vah!" cried the Pokémon as it charged into Poliwrath much stronger than it had done before. Exhausted, Poliwrath fell to the ground.

"Victory!" cried Marco and Tara.

Akira called Poliwrath back to its ball and approached Marco, smiling even though he'd lost.

"You handle your Pokémon very well." he said, bowing to Marco once more. "I am sure you will do well in the Pokémon league."

"Thank you!" replied Marco, slightly embarassed, "Your Poliwrath is a great Pokémon too!"

"May our paths meet again one day." said Akira, nodding. He then turned on his heel and continued down the dusty road.

"That was a great battle, Marco!" commented Tara cheerfully.

"Thanks! Now come on - the gym awaits us!"

With that, Marco went into a run with Quilava by his side, both laughing loudly in excitement.

"Hey wait up!" called Tara after them. "Oh boy, not this again..."

When they reached Virdian City, the sun was setting behind the trees of Viridian Forest, creating a beautiful red and purple sky above the now-sleepy city. A few people walked the streets lazily, enjoying their Summer, and a couple of cars cruised the streets. Marco and Tara stood outside the gym, which to Marco's dismay, was closed for the day.

"Man! I can't believe this!" he groaned.

"Well maybe if you hadn't stopped for that battle..." replied Tara criticizingly.

"Whatever. Let's go to the Pokémon Center and crash for tonight."

They walked the dusty, pleasant streets of Viridian City and eventually found the Pokémon Center. They walked in and the first thing they noticed was how nice and cool it was, compared to the sticky heat of outside.

"Welcome." said Nurse Joy, smiling politely. "Please make yourselves at home. Beds are through the doors over there, you can get food from the kitchens or vending machines, and there are televisions and magazines in our sitting area over here," she said, indicating some large, comfortable-looking blue communal couches to her right, "Please enjoy your stay."

"Thank you very much, Nurse!" replied Tara. Marco decided to give his Pokémon to Nurse Joy, so they could be fighting fit for his battle tomorrow.

"We'll have them in shape in no time at all!" winked Nurse Joy as she took the Pokéballs containing Quilava, Blastoise, Ampharos and Vileplume.

They had been sitting in the Pokémon Center for about an hour. It was now dark outside, though still pleasantly mild. It was then Marco had a thought - who would he be facing tomorrow? He stood up, putting down his copy of 'Pokémon Monthly' (Tara was currently buried in 'Water Pokémon Watcher') and approached the reception desk where Nurse Joy was typing at a computer.

"Nurse Joy, I was wondering, who is the leader of the Viridian gym?"

"Ah..." began Nurse Joy. Marco found this odd that she would not give a straight answer.

"Nurse Joy...?"

"Well, you see," she continued, "The leader of the Viridian gym is the leader of a gang known as Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket...I've heard of those guys. Aren't they meant to be troublemakers here?"

"They are, yes," replied Joy, "They'll stop at nothing to get money or rare Pokémon. The leader of the gym is a very sinister man. He's filthy rich and is said to have very powerful Pokémon. All I can say is good luck, if you're going to challenge him."

Marco looked down and mulled things over in his head for a moment.

"Yeah...yeah, no problem!" he exclaimed confidently, "I'll take him on, and I'll win."

Nurse Joy gave a slight smile and motioned him towards Tara. With that, she walked through some sliding doors, a Chansey following close behind.

"What did she say?" questioned Tara, now with a copy of 'Legendary Pokémon Sightings' in her hands.

"She said the leader is the head of Team Rocket, and he's supposedly really tough." replied Marco, sinking into the couch and picking up the TV remote. There was silence for a moment, then Tara patted him on the shoulder and smiled.

"I'm rooting for you no matter what!"

Marco smiled. He had a great friend in Tara, and she was a great Pokémon trainer (her team consisted of Marshtomp, Vaporeon, Lombre and Cleffa - all water Pokémon bar, Cleffa). No matter what the future held, they'd battle strongly together and overcome all the odds.


	3. A Proposition

Giovanni paced his office impatiently. Peering through the blinds, he looked over the Viridian City streets, and then to the morning sky. Somewhere far away, under the same sun and clouds, was an ancient Pokémon waiting to be added to his collection. Ever since losing his last exclusive Pokémon, Giovanni was hungry for another. He had read about ancient Pokémon that used to walk the earth, and it was in an old book he had discovered the tale of an island on the seven seas, and the prophecy:

"The sun and moon encapsulate the earth,

And nature is in harmony.

Should the gods collide,

The centre of the earth shall awake,

And the world will fall into darkness."

But what did this mean? Always one to take a risk, and never back away from a chance to capture an elusive Pokémon, or indeed take over the world, Giovanni had launched a new project to find the island and make the Pokémon his own.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Marco and Tara entered the gym's enormous main hall. It was decorated with paintings and statues of ground-type Pokémon, their unsettling eyes gazing down at them as they approached the front desk. Marco approached to enter the contest. The woman behind the desk wore a long white lab coat, tight black jeans and had shoulder-length black hair. Most noticably, she wore a shirt with a large red letter 'R' emblazened in the center. She looked at Marco sternly through her rose-tinted glasses.

"Errr, hi there!" started Marco, "I'd like to challenge your gym leader." The woman paused for a moment.

"I'll inform him. Take a seat for now."

"Thanks!" replied Marco brightly. He strolled over and took a seat next to Tara who was admiring a statue of a Golem. She turned to him and smiled.

"Remember the time you had to battle one of those?"

"Oh yeah, don't remind me!" laughed Marco, remembering the difficult battle against the rock-skinned creature. The woman at the desk coughed and began reading what appeared to be a map.

Upstairs, Giovanni was brought back to earth by a ringing sound from a machine on his desk. Excitedly, he moved over to it and pressed a large red button.

"What news do you have?" he asked hungrily. The voice that replied was shaking, as though in terrible fear and panic.

"Sir! It's terrible! The team are..."

"What? What is it?" snapped Giovanni. The reception turned static. "Did you find the island?"

"We did Sir, but on it there was..."

"You found it?" asked Giovanni even more excitedly, ignoring the man's anxiousness.

"Sir...the scienti...they touched the...and now..." came the reply.

"Answer me darn it!" boomed Giovanni, his anger getting the better of him.

"...Frozen, the stone...and now...they...alone, don't...dangerous..."

"Speak louder!"

"..."

In a rage, Giovanni threw the machine across the room, smashing it off of the wall. Persian didn't even flinch, as though used to this violent nature.

"This island does exist, and that Pokémon is waiting for me," he thought, sitting down, "I'll need to send more researchers...and from the sound of it...some formidable Pokémon trainers..."

Once again, he was brought back to earth by another ringing, from his telephone. He answered it.

"Yes?"

"Trainer here to challenge you, sir." came the voice of the receptionist.

"Send them into the arena," sighed Giovanni, "I'll be down momentarily."

Back in the reception area, Marco was admiring the fine statues of Pokémon. There was a huge marble Rhydon, a glass figure of a Sandslash, and at the end of the row, a dark stone statue of a Pokémon that Marco had never seen before. It looked like a cat, but it stood like a human, with a sinister, overlooming posture. Its cold, stone eyes seemed to glare at him. Before he knew what to think, the receptionist spoke again.

"Our leader is ready. Go on in."

"Ohh, errr...thank you" replied Marco, picking up his backpack and walking down the corridor, with Tara following closely behind.

They walked down the hallway, which was decorated with portraits of Pokémon similar to those in the foyer. The most impressive was the last one before the steel doors; a large Arcanine standing on a cliff's edge, as a storm brewed overhead. Marco reached out and rested his hand on the door.

"Here goes..."

He pushed and the door slowly swung open, revealing a cavernous arena, with large floodlights illuminating the field, which was littered with rocks and dirt. On the other side of the hall, Giovanni walked down a stairway to a podium, where he sat in a large chair, the shadows concealing his face.

"So, you would like an Earth badge, would you?" he asked Marco.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna get one!" replied Marco, feeling rather heroic that he was battling a criminal mastermind.

"Very well," smirked Giovanni, "We will each use two Pokémon. I choose you, Nosepass."

Giovanni threw a purple ball with pink circles on it into the arena, and from it emerged a short Pokémon that resembled a boulder, only with little stubby arms and legs, beady eyes and a large pointed nose. Although it looked small, it packed quite a punch.

"Nosepass?" muttered Tara, moving her hair out of her eyes, "I've never seen such a Pokémon."

"I remember reading about them when I was young," replied Marco, "They only live in caves in the Hoenn region...and they're rock-types..."

"Ahem." interrupted Giovanni impatiently. Marco threw a Pokéball into the arena.

"Go! Blastoise!"

In a white flash, Blastoise appeared. It looked like a turtle, but standing on two legs, with blue skin, pointed ears, and most noticably two large cannons coming from its shell. It was a lot taller than Giovanni's Nosepass.

"Hah!" laughed Marco confidently, "This shouldn't be a problem. Rock-types are weak against water-types!"

But Giovanni smirked.

"Alright Blastoise, let's see a Hydro Pump attack!" commanded Marco. Blastoise's cannons aimed at Nosepass and fired powerful jets of water toward it.

"Nosepass, dodge it." ordered Giovanni calmly. Nosepass jumped and landed a few feet behind where it had been previously, as Blastoise's attack hit the bare ground. Marco gritted his teeth.

"Argh...Blastoise, try again, faster!"

"Blastoise!" wailed his Pokémon, as it fired again. This time, the water hit Nosepass squarely on the nose.

"Hah! Let's see it survive that!" jeered Marco. But Giovanni smirked once more.

"Nosepass, Thunderbolt attack."

"Thunderbolt?" exclaimed Marco and Tara simultaneously. In seconds, Nosepass shot a high-voltage ray of electricity into Blastoise's water jet. The water conducted the electricity, leading it right back to Blastoise, who grunted in pain, shaking.

"Blastoise, no!" cried Marco. Blastoise wobbled for a moment, then collapsed. Giovanni laughed evily as Marco called Blastoise back into its Pokéball. He clutched another one.

"I don't know how it used an electric attack...This guy is tough, so do your best! Vileplume, I choose you!"

Vileplume, a Pokémon resembling a large flower, appeared from the Pokéball. Before Giovanni could utter a command, Marco shouted his.

"Vileplume, use Petal Dance!"

Vileplume began to spin around on one leg, releasing a gust of pollen and pink petals, which sliced at Nosepass, who shrieked in pain.

"Ha! It's weak against grass-type attacks too!"

"Ugh," moaned Giovanni, "Nosepass, use Rock Throw."

Nosepass reached for the biggest rock in the field, and lifted it above its head effortlessly. It threw it right at Vileplume.

"Vileplume, watch out!" yelled Marco. Vileplume obeyed, and dived out of the rock's path just in time. "Now use Sleep Powder!"

With this, Vileplume radiated some yellow dust from its petals. The dust covered Nosepass, who instantly dozed off.

"Nosepass return," said Giovanni emotionlessly, "And go, Tyranitar".

"No!" exclaimed Tara, "Not a Tyranitar!"

From Giovanni's Pokéball came the enormous creature with a solid hide and immensely powerful limbs; known for being one of the strongest Pokémon in existence.

"Tyranitar, Earthquake."

Roaring, Tyranitar leaped into the air and pummelled the ground, causing the whole arena to shake. Rocks went flying in all directions, knocking into Vileplume who collapsed, but did not faint. When it subsided, Marco called to his Pokémon.

"Vileplume! Get up, please! If you don't, we lose the battle!"

Vileplume slowly struggled to get itself off of the floor. It didn't want to let its trainer down. However, Tyranitar approached it like a speeding bullet and Mega Punched it into the air. It fell and skidded along the ground, stopping at Marco's feet, completely KOd.

"This match is over." stated Giovanni, recalling Tyranitar. Tara approached Marco, who was kneeling aside Vileplume.

"You did really well..." she said softly, smiling. Marco smiled back vaguely, then turned to his injured Pokémon.

"You were great, buddy," he said to Vileplume, "You deserve a nice long rest".

Marco put Vileplume back in its Pokéball and stood up. He then noticed Giovanni approaching them. Was the obnoxious leader of Team Rocket actually going to congratulate him?

"Your Pokémon are rather well-raised." he commented.

"Ermm...thank you..." replied Marco warily.

"If you're interested, I have a little proposition for you."

"What?" questioned Marco coldly. Tara had a worried look on her face.

"I'm looking for Pokémon trainers to travel to a distant island," began Giovanni, in a very serious tone of voice, "To find out more about the Pokémon that live there. You would also be welcome to catch any rare Pokémon you may find."

"Distant island...? Rare Pokémon...?" mumbled Marco.

"Marco..." said Tara in a concerned tone. Giovanni put one hand in his pocket and looked to Marco.

"So, do you accept my offer...?"


	4. The Baron Of The Shadows

Marco looked into Giovanni's eyes. They burned with a fire that could have represented multiple things: power, anger, or evil.

"Come on, I haven't got all day. Do you accept?"

"I..." started Marco, but not quite sure what to say.

"What do you mean?" interrupted Tara. Giovanni did not look at her, but closed his eyes and looked away slightly.

"An unchartered island I've discovered could hold some rare Pokémon, perhaps never even seen by human eyes before. I need Pokémon trainers to go to it and find out more for me."

Marco found his voice.

"Why don't you just send your Team Rocket thugs?"

"Pah," replied Giovanni, "The Rockets I sent have not returned and haven't kept contact. They were my best workers, too. Useless idiots. From our battle I see you are a good Pokémon trainer, so I want you to go."

Marco and Tara turned to leave.

"Yeah, so you can rope us into some evil Rocket scheme?" spat Marco. Giovanni smirked and looked at him.

"If you go, I will give you the Earth badge on your return."

Marco froze. He paused for a moment, then turned to Giovanni again, as did Tara.

"You...will give me the badge?"

"I will," replied Giovanni, "Rocket's honour."

Tara questioned Marco, frowning.

"Marco, no. You can't, we don't know what he's really up to."

Giovanni smirked again.

"He's way too powerful for me to beat," pondered Marco aloud, "This may be my only hope."

Tara remained silent, but her face did not change. Marco looked to Giovanni.

"I'll do it."

"Excellent," said Giovanni, pleased, "If you would care to take up residence in the Pokémon Center, I will alert you when my boat is ready in Vermilion City."

"Oooh, we can see Lieutenant Surge again!" exclaimed Tara, forgetting how she did not approve of the situation. Giovanni nodded to Marco, then turned and left.

Marco and Tara walked back down the corridor to the reception in silence. The woman at the desk looked up from her laptop to Marco. Unexpectedly, she wished him better luck next time. The silence continued until they were outside the gym atop the hill, overlooking Viridian. It was a quiet area, and a breeze carried some leaves past the two friends.

"Tara, I have to do this," said Marco softly, "It's the only way I can get an Earth badge."

"You can train more!" she shot back, "You can defeat him if you try!"

Marco shook his head.

"His Pokémon are far too powerful, and who knows how many he has? Besides, an island full of rare Pokémon sounds good to me!"

More leaves passed by.

"I'll bring you back any cute water Pokémon I catch..." offered Marco.

"I'll bring them back myself", came the reply.

"Huh?"

Marco looked to her to find her looking back with an understanding look on her face.

"I said I'm with you no matter what!" she laughed, "I'm coming with you to the island."

Marco did not reply, but he smiled and nodded. There was a moment of somehow awkward silence as they looked at one another, then set off down the road to Viridian City.

Meanwhile, Giovanni re-entered his office. Clearing some junk from his desktop, he picked up a little round contraption with a radar on it.

"Let's see where those fools have gotten to..."

He pressed some buttons on the machine. It bleeped, and a small sea map appeared. In the northern seas, a red dot bleeped, indicating where the missing members of Team Rocket were. He looked closely at the miniscule map.

"Temple Island..."

He called down to this reception.

"Prepare the remaining scientists and sailors. We are sending a second party to Temple Island."

"As you wish, sir."

It was a cool afternoon in Viridian City. Sunlight and a definite warmth, but a refreshing breeze circled the streets alongside it, passing a large fountain, on which Marco and Tara were sitting.

"I can't believe we're doing this..." muttered Tara. Marco sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Look, I need to do it for the badge. And besides, it might be fun!" he replied, sounding brighter than he looked.

"Hmm..." replied Tara, neither approvingly or disapprovingly.

The afternoon continued until the sun set behind the hills. The residents of the neighbouring Pallet Town finished their daily business as they locked their doors and settled for the night. A Mr. Mime (a strange clown-like Pokémon) sweeped in the yard of one of the houses, humming merrily to itself. Not far away, the sea peacefully swept on the sand, as some wild Pokémon rustled in the bushes, also settling down for the night. All but one, a nocturnal raven Pokémon called Murkrow. As the full moon showed itself from behind a cloud, it stretched its thick black wings and took off into the night, as it always did. Soaring quietly and unnoticed in the sky, it observed the towns and cities below it, the small lights of bedrooms or TVs flickering. Most of all Murkrow liked looking over Saffron City, a large area full of sparkling skyscrapers and busy streets. But on its way tonight, Murkrow saw something out of the ordinary. As it flew over the harbour town of Vermilion, it saw two figures at the dock; one man dressed in a suit with a Persian by his side, another man in a dark cape, with a large black hat and bandana covering his face, except for his eyes.

"So what did you say this place was called?" asked the caped man.

"Temple Island..." replied Giovanni, with a stern facial expression.

"And there is an incredible Pokémon there?" asked the caped man again, though not sounding very interested.

"So I've read," replied Giovanni, "But that Pokémon is mine. You can stick to whatever other Pokémon are on the island."

"Hmm..." muttered the caped man. Some matted brown hair escaped the clutches of his hat and bandana. He moved it back into place.

"So why do you require my services?" he asked, "I thought you said you had some young trainer going for you."

"I do, but I'm not putting all my trust in a child who is opposed to Team Rocket," replied Giovanni calmly, "And with one more experienced trainer like yourself going, the more chance there is of me acquiring the Pokémon."

"So you're putting your trust in me?" questioned the caped man, closing his eyes and smirking underneath his bandana. Giovanni too smirked.

"Even though I'm paying you for this," started Giovanni, looking at the man, "I don't think anyone would ever trust you, Shadow Baron."

The two men looked at each other for a moment, before Shadow Baron sprinted away and disappeared into the wilderness.


	5. Setting Sail

"Mime!"

"Hmmm..."

"Mime mime!"

"Mmmh...huh?"

"Mime!"

"Whoa!"

Marco opened his eyes to find an odd little face staring right back at him. Startled, he sat up quickly, as the small clown-like Pokémon Mime Jr. leaped from his chest to the ledge of the couch on which he was lying. He heard laughter, and rubbed his eyes before looking at where it was coming from. Tara and a tall man wearing a long, white lab coat with neat, combed-back brown hair and a thin face looked over him, smiling. The Mime Jr. leaped from the couch onto the man's shoulder, giggling.

"Marco, this is Professor Leafwood. He's coming on the expedition to Temple Island with us." said Tara.

"Temple Island?"

"That's the name of the place!" offered the Professor cheerily, shaking Marco's hand. Marco smiled, then looked at the little Pokémon on his shoulder.

"What is that? I've never seen one."

"It's a Mime Jr., Mr. Mime's pre-evolved form." replied Leafwood.

"Amazing!" laughed Marco, as the little Pokémon hopped excitedly, "I didn't even know Mr. Mime was an evolved Pokémon!" he finished, getting up and packing his things into his rucksack.

"Not a lot of people in this region own a Mr. Mime in its pre-evolved state; they often evolve in the wild before a trainer captures them." offered Leafwood.

Pokémon were caught using devices called Pokéballs. For humans, Pokémon could be pets, friends, workers or assistants. People who raised Pokémon to battle others, win competitions and grow together were known as Pokémon trainers, like Marco and Tara.

"Now if you would both care to follow me, we shall depart for Vermilion City." finished Leafwood.

"Mime!" followed Mime Jr.

The doors of the Pokémon Center slid open to reveal another cool, sunny morning in Viridian City. The streets already had quite a number of people in them.

"Wait," started Marco, quietly to Tara, "Does this guy work for Team Rocket?"

"No, no!" Tara assured him, "He's in our boat; he was hired by Giovanni to research the island."

They walked out of the city into the rural plains. Ahead was the dark Viridian Forest, with its towering trees stopping the sunlight from even catching a glimpse of the grass within, as well as all the creepy bug Pokémon.

"Oh no, we're not going into that creepy forest, are we!?" panicked Tara.

"Hahah, don't worry, not today!" chortled Leafwood, "We're going in there." he concluded, pointing to an even darker cave on the edge of the forest.

"Oh, 'cause that's much better!" groaned Tara, sarcastically. Leafwood laughed again.

"It's called Diglett's Cave. I guess because it's populated by wild Diglett."

"Oh, cool!" exclaimed Marco, "I've never saw a Diglett in real life before."

They approached the entrance of the cave. It was impossible to see far inside, for it was as dark as the seabed on a Winter morning. After a moment of thought, Marco released his Ampharos, a tall yellow vole-like Pokémon, whose electrical powers lit up the abyss before them.

"Good thinking!" smiled Leafwood, "Now let's go!"

The tunnel seemed to go on forever; rugged rocks stuck up from the earth and from the ceiling, and the walls glistened with drops of condensation. All of a sudden, a little area of the ground in front of them began to crack, and from it, a small creature appeared; it had brown fur, with a little red beak and little button eyes. Its body shape, however, was just long and rounded.

"Diglett!" it said.

"Awwwww, it's so cute!" exclaimed Tara. Marco smiled and withdrew his Pokédex, a device he'd received from Professor Elm when he first began his Pokémon training. It contained data on almost every Pokémon in existence. Pointed at Diglett, the Pokédex began to speak:

"Diglett. A ground-type Pokemon. Diglett live miles underground, capable of burrowing at high speeds, and in battle, is highly evasive."

"I want it!" cried Tara excitedly, taking a Pokéball from her backpack and throwing it into the air, "Go! Lombre!"

With a flash, Lombre, a Pokémon that resembled a frog with a mustache and wearing a lilly for a hat, appeared, facing Diglett. Diglett squeaked happily.

"Lombre, use Water Gun!" commanded Tara. Almost instantly, Lombre fired at Diglett, who even more instantly, burrowed under the ground and popped up again to the left of the jet of water.

"Ack!" exclaimed Tara, "Ermm...Lombre, try your Pound attack!"

Lombre ran at Diglett and swung a punch, but once again, Diglett retreated and popped back up further away. Leafwood made a concerned face, and approached Tara.

"Maybe I can help?" he said. His face grew sterner. "Mime Jr., Disable!"

Mime Jr. jumped from his shoulder and seemed to hover in the air in a blue glow. Diglett was also shrouded in the blue glow, and found itself unable to move.

"Alright Lombre, now use Bubblebeam!"

Lombre released a flurry of bubbles, which struck Diglett, who couldn't avoid them. It hollered for a moment, then slopped to one side, almost knocked-out."

"Okay!" cheered Tara, throwing an empty Pokéball at the Diglett, "Pokéball, go!"

The ball bounced off of Diglett, opened up, and Diglett was sucked inside it in a flash. The Pokéball wriggled for a moment, the red light on the front glowing as Diglett used the energy it had left trying to escape. However, after a minute or so, the light went off and the ball sat motionless.

"Yay!" screamed Tara, "I caught a Diglett! The little cutie is mine!"

Marco and Leafwood laughed and congratulated Tara on her catch.

A short time later, they found themselves in the daylight again, on a grassy hill with some trees dotted around the summit. Down the hill, they saw the sparkling sea, and the industrial Vermilion City.

"Ahhh, it's good to be back!" smiled Marco, as they set off down the path, Tara snuggling the Pokéball containing her new Pokémon. Not too far away, in a hole in a tree, Murkrow muttered in its sleep.

Although Vermilion was quite an industrial place, it wasn't without its charms; the streets were clean, the water was crystal clear around the docks, and the sea air was refreshing. The trio walked along the waterfront, admiring the Magikarp leap out of the water, their scales dazzling in the sunlight.

"Magikarp used to be a lot stronger in the past than they are now, did you know?"

"I didn't!" replied Marco, sounding interested, "If Magikarp was strong then, what must Gyarados have been like!?"

Gyarados, Magikarp's evolved form, was a towering sea serpent-like creature, of immense power.

"I dread to think!" laughed Tara. Leafwood grinned, and stopped walking. Marco and Tara stopped too, and watched as Leafwood threw a Pokéball to the water. It opened, and in a burst of light, a large creature appeared in the water: a Gyarados.

"Wow, you have one!?" exclaimed Tara, who loved water Pokémon.

"Yup, I sure do!" smiled Leafwood, patting his terrifying friendly pet on the head.

"That's so admirable!" squealed Tara, "Gyarados are hard to raise!"

Marco laughed and sighed. Gyarados submerged to swim for a while, and the group continued into the heart of the town.

Eventually they reached a pier populated by a group of scientists. Leafwood greeted them warmly, and they recipricated. There were some introductions, before one of the scientists, Professor Frankston, a short, elderly man addressed the entire group.

"On the way to our destination, everyone will be given a walkie-talkie, for use on the island. There will be no irrational behaviour on this expedition. Things must be planned very carefully."

Professors Alpharm, Cress and Scarlet nodded in agreement. Alpharm, younger than the other professors, had long brown hair almost to his waist, and wore large sunglasses. Cress was the tallest of the group, with flaming, curled blond hair and a large mustache. Scarlet, the only female professor, was very beautiful. She was tall, with bushy, dark red hair, and made even her labcoat seem fashionable.

With that, the group began to board the large boat, which was decorated with a large red 'R' on the side. The logo of Team Rocket. The deck of the boat was spacious, as was the inside rooms; more than enough room for all of the people aboard to be comfortable. As Marco took his first step onto the deck, a figure caught his eye. Shadow Baron was standing at the front of the boat, looking out at the sea.

"Ermm...hi!" stuttered Marco, unsure how to introduce himself, "I'm Marco, and this is Tara."

"Greetings. I am the Shadow Baron. Shadow will do." he replied.

"Do you...work for Team Rocket?" questioned Marco, suspicious of the person's dark aura.

"Pah, hardly. I do things for myself. Giovanni has paid me to go to this island and discover some ancient Pokémon that rests here." shot back Shadow.

"That's why he sent us on this trip too...wait, did you say 'ancient' Pokémon?" asked Marco. Shadow closed his eyes and looked down.

"It's cold out here. You should go inside." he offered, as though trying to get rid of them.

The boat's captain sounded the horn, and it shook into motion, gently sliding out of the Vermilion port. Before long, they were speeding across the seas, with Leafwood's Gyarados following closely behind. The feeling Marco got from the sea winds blowing in his face and the sun shining down made him feel on top of the world, and that he could do anything. But what he was heading into, no one knew.


	6. Awakened

By the time the sun had set, the boat was still en route to Temple Island. The night air had became chilly, and Tara shivered as she stood on the deck, looking at the stars reflecting in the sea, occasionally mistaking Gyarados' eyes for them. In the sky, some Pidgey were flying back to their nests, swooping through the dark clouds. As she tried to warm herself by rubbing her arms, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to find Alpharm holding a tray with several mugs balanced on it. He smiled and offered her a purple mug with a Magikarp drawing on it.

"Hot chocolate!" he smiled, "It looks as though you could do with some!"

"Oh, thank you." she replied, taking the warm drink.

"Why are you standing out in the cold?" asked Alpharm.

"I like to look at the sea," answered Tara, looking to the waves, "I'm a water Pokémon trainer, you see."

"Interesting!" commented Alpharm brightly, "They're really graceful Pokémon."

Tara smiled and took a sip of hot chocolate before Alpharm spoke again.

"I train poison Pokémon personally."

Tara wasn't sure how to reply. She hated the majority of poison Pokémon.

"Errr...that's nice!" she lied. Alpharm laughed.

"No, I didn't think you'd like them! Not many girls seem to." he laughed, "I'm going to turn in for the night. See you in the morning, Tara."

"Oh, good night." replied Tara. She turned and looked at the reflections of the stars in the water, but then realised it was Gyarados' eyes.

Inside, Marco and the rest of the group were sitting on a couch which stretched around the outskirts of the room. Marco was sitting beside Cress, who was slumped on the arm rest, asleep. Scarlet and Frankston were sitting together in the middle, and Shadow was sitting by himself at the far end, rarely speaking.

"...And then Joe says 'It was a Magnemite!'" said Frankston, finishing a joke. Marco and Scarlet laughed.

"How about this one?" piped up Scarlet, "How do you get Mr. Mime onto a bus? You poke-him-on!"

Marco and Frankston continued to laugh. Shadow looked up from under his hat.

"Don't you think we ought to discuss our plan of action for the island instead of your stupid jokes?"

"Erm...yes, I suppose we should." replied Frankston, ceasing his laughter. He withdrew a small device with a screen on it.

"We should arrive at the destination of the other scientist's tracker within half an hour. That is, Temple Island," he stated, "Once there, we'll set up camp for the night, and in the morning we will explore the island, find the others, and look for clues as to where the rare Pokémon is."

"What is the Pokémon?" asked Marco.

"We don't know," replied Frankston, pushing his spectacles up his nose, "It may be a Pokémon that is rarely seen by humans; like Latios, or a Raikou. Or it may be a species of Pokémon that human beings have never seen before!" he finished, excitedly.

"Wow, I can't wait to find out!" smiled Marco. The boat continued to speed over the waves, under the moon.

Eventually, they reached the shores of Temple Island. Marco and Tara jumped out first, Tara yelping at how cold the water was. Marco was unaffected, but looked at the landscape before them; a vast mountain covered in snow and ice, a beach covered in frost, snowy plains with coated trees, and some purple winter flowers scattered across the grass.

"I expected a tropical paradise for some reason..." he muttered. The rest of the crew followed them off the boat, as Cress anchored and secured it.

"Afraid not!" chortled Frankston, "Now let's find a place to rest."

They'd been walking for a short time through the cold, dark and frosty woods before they came to a cave. It was as black as the ace of spades inside, and had a strange sense of foreboding.

"Marco, make your Ampharos light the cave again." said Leafwood. Marco complied, and they followed the lighthouse-like Pokémon inside.

It wasn't as sinister as it looked from the outside. It was relatively small, but was dry and warmer than it was outside. It was pleasant. But then Alpharm noticed something on the wall, and beckoned the others to look. What they saw were drawings, carved onto the wall. The first was of a large triangle, with a sun and a moon on either side. Next to it was a similar drawing, only this time the sun and moon were clashing with each other above the triangle, which had a figure inside its three lines. The last drawing was of some destroyed buildings with some dark clouds above them.

"How peculiar..." mumbled Frankston, "It looks like ancient heiroglyphs."

"This one is quite unsettling," said Tara, pointing at the last one, "It looks like the ruins of a city."

"Hey, look at this too!" exclaimed Alpharm, clearing some dust off of the wall under the drawings, "It's the same ancient writing that Giovanni found in his research!"

"What does it say?" asked Marco.

"I can't remember exactly," replied Alpharm, "But it's to do with the sun and moon being in harmony, and nature losing its balance if they are interfered with."

There was silence for a moment before Shadow spoke.

"Well, it's not our concern, is it? We're only here to find us some rare Pokémon."

With that, the team unpacked some food, rolled out their sleeping bags, and one by one, succumbed to sleep.

The next day, there was light snowfall; pretty, and not something that could hamper the group's plans. They trudged through the strange mixture of sand and snow of the shoreline, in search of the other group. Frankston walked ahead of the others, using the tracking device to lead them.

"Now, everyone be cautious," he warned, "We don't know what kind of wild Pokémon live here, or when they'll appear."

"Ha, they'll be no problem for all of our Pokémon!" bragged Marco.

"Nonetheless, be aware." finished Frankston.

They'd been walking for just several minutes when they saw a small peninsula leading from the island just out a few yards to see. But it wasn't just that; there were figures in the distance, standing on it.

"That must be the others!" exclaimed Scarlet.

The group quickened their pace as they reached the peninsula. However, when they arrived on the small stretch of land, they felt the same foreboding presence that they'd felt in the cave. Frankston approached the back of a tall man with a thick beard and a large nose, smiling.

"Professor Lars! Fancy meeting you here!" he chuckled. Professor Lars however, did not respond.

"Professor Lars...?"

Frankston and the others gasped as they realised that Lars, and the five others in his party, were completely motionless; as if turned to stone. They were standing upright and looked unscathed, but they did not move a single muscle.

"What...what's going on?" exclaimed Frankston, breaking into a cold sweat.

"They seem to be...frozen solid...completely solid..." pondered Alpharm, as he touched the hand of a pretty female Team Rocket member, only for her not to react in any way at all, her cold eyes continually glaring at something. Alpharm turned around to see what it was.

"Hey guys, look at that thing!"

Turning around, the group saw a small cone-shaped rock at the edge of the peninsula, and balanced on it was another rock which was in the shape of a sun. Whoever had carved it had done a near-perfect job.

"I don't like this..." whimpered Tara, "Wasn't there a sun on the cave wall back there?"

"Curious..." pondered Frankston.

"I wonder what this is..." thought Cress aloud, approaching the rock.

"Wait!" cried Frankston. But it was too late. Cress had reached out and touched one of the 'rays' of the stone sun. A strange wave flew through everyone, and in a moment, Cress was frozen like the other group.

"Cress!" squealed Scarlet, running over to him. Alpharm reacted quickly.

"No!" he yelled, diving into her path and pulling her to the ground, before helping her up, "Don't touch him! It might get you too!"

"You're right. I'm sorry..." she sniffled, dusting herself off. The group approached Cress.

"This rock holds a peculiar power...it must freeze you if you touch it."

"I'd never have guessed," commented Shadow, sarcastically, "Now stand back till I take care of this thing."

"Salamence, go!" cried Shadow, tossing a Pokéball into the air. Salamence, a purple dragon Pokémon with large wings, appeared with a roar.

"Hyper Beam, now!"

Salamence opened its strong jaws with another roar and shot out a beam of burning light at the rock. It shook violently, before the points (or 'rays') began to glow. Salamence stopped shooting at it, and the group watched as the whole rock began to glow an eerie white light. When it subdued, the rock was still there, only it was now red and orange, with two large eyes.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the group.

"That's a Solrock!" yelped Frankston.

"Let's see..." mumbled Scarlet, taking out an electronic Pokémon encyclopedia known as a Pokédex and pointing it at Solrock. A computerised voice spoke.

"Solrock. The meteorite Pokémon. It is most active on sunny days, as it draws energy from the sun in battle. It is also capable of using psychic attacks."

Before any of the group had time to react, the wild Solrock zoomed into the air, its rays glowing once again, before taking off into the clouds above the mountain.

"Ermmm..." muttered Alpharm, "What just happened?"

"I'm not quite sure...but I'm not sensing anything positive from it." replied Scarlet. She turned to Frankston.

"Professor, were there not seven people on the last expedition?"

"Why, you're right!" replied Frankston excitedly, "So there must be one more member still on the island, and maybe he can tell us more about what happened!"

"Let's find him then." said Shadow calmly, calling Salamence back into its Pokéball.

The group nodded, and with one last glance at Cress and the other immobile party members, set off back to the mainland, and into an island plagued with a sinister yet intriguing mystery. What did those ancient drawings mean? Was the missing member of the last expedition still out there? And was there something more to this island than a rare species of Pokémon?


	7. Sun Thing Wicked This Way Comes

The group trudged back to the cave through the sand and snow. A cold wind was now blowing in from the sea, nipping at the flesh. Scarlet was completely silent, just looking to her feet with a sad expression on her face. Shadow walked a few yards in front of everyone, followed by Marco, Frankston and Leafwood, and behind them, Tara and Alpharm. Tara shivered and rubbed her arms as another cold gust attacked, and Alpharm looked to her. For a moment it seemed as if he was going to put his arm around her, but instead he spoke.

"We'll be back soon. Don't worry."

Tara returned his reassurance with a faint smile.

"What do you think we saw back there?" Marco asked Leafwood. However, it was Frankston who answered.

"It was a peculiar power...I don't think it was anything that could have come from a Pokémon on its own. We may be dealing with something supernatural."

"And I remember the days when things seemed so innocent and wonderful!" replied Marco, forcing a faint laugh. He had a fleeting memory of jogging through the woods outside his hometown, his laughter filling the air as a small Cyndaquil ran alongside him.

As the group continued to walk, something rustled in the bushes among the forest trees. The group immediately froze.

"Willis...?" called Frankston. There was no reply, just more rustling. Without thinking, Marco picked up a stone from the cold sand, and threw it into the bush. There was a small yelp, before a yellow point stuck up from the leaves.

"What the heck is that?" exclaimed Tara.

"Show yourself!" commanded Marco. As though obeying, the bushes rustled once more, and a small yellow cone-shaped creature rolled out. It had a black inner body, its yellow hide resembling a coat, beady blue eyes and a large set of teeth.

"Hey, that's a Snorunt!" smiled Marco. Scarlet withdrew her Pokédex.

"Snorunt. The Snow Hat Pokémon," came the electronic voice, "Snorunt live in cold regions and usually travel in groups of four or five. If seen late at night, it is said that snowfall will arrive by morning. Snorunt are also known to be very mischievous."

"It's a cutie!" giggled Tara. Snorunt smiled a cheeky grin.

"Go, Quilava!" shouted Marco, throwing Quilava's Pokéball into the air. In moments, he was in battle with Snorunt.

"Quilava, use your Ember attack!"

Quilava glared at Snorunt, the flames covering its body burning brightly. It opened its mouth and shot a fireball at Snorunt. Snorunt jumped out of the way in time to take any great damage, but its feet were singed, making it stumble and fall over upon landing. It bounced to its feet unsteadily, and snowflakes began to spray from between it's pearly teeth. The flakes grazed Quilava.

"Quilava, you okay?" asked Marco to his Pokémon. Quilava shook its head and nodded. "Okay then, Take Down!"

Quilava scraped its paw on the ground before charging head-on at Snorunt. Snorunt jumped again, but so did Quilava, ramming into Snorunt in mid-air and knocking it into a nearby tree. The Snorunt groaned, trying to get to its feet.

"Finish it with another Ember!"

And another Ember certainly did finish it, as Snorunt lay unable to battle at the bottom of the tree.

"Pokéball, go!" cried Marco, throwing the ball. It bounces off Snorunt, who was sucked inside. The ball barely wriggled for a moment, before stopping.

"Nice catch!" commented Leafwood, as Marco paced over to pick up his new friend.

"I've always wanted a Snorunt!" he laughed, snuggling the Pokéball.

"Come now," grumped Frankston impatiently, "We must get back to the cave."

Later in the day, as the sun was about to begin setting, the group sat round a fire (courtesy of Quilava) pondering on what they had saw that day. While Leafwood stood examining the depictions on the wall.

"Where do you think the Solrock went?" asked Tara.

"It looked as though it was heading to the top of the mountain..." rattled off Frankston. Marco moved from his cross-legged sitting into a more comfortable position. His Snorunt lay snoozing in his lap, recovering from its rather brutal capture.

"Perhaps if one of us had tried to catch it..." he began, but Frankston interrupted.

"I very much doubt such a Pokémon could be captured easily. Not all is as it seems."

In the background, cutting off all other noise, Leafwood gazed at the picture of the sun and moon shapes clashing, and something in his head suddenly clicked.

"Everyone..." he began in a commanding voice, "We have to get to the other side of this island now..."

His eyes moved to the picture of the dilapitated landscape.

"...Or I think something bad is going to happen."

With little argument (well of course, some from Frankston), the party sprung to their feet and raced out of the cave exit, with Leafwood in front leading the way.

They ran for longer than it had taken to get to the east side of the island before reaching a similar peninsula on the west coast. As expected, atop a rock was a crescent moon shape. The group stopped in front of it. On the way, they had all figured out Leafwood's basic thoughts, so little explanation was needed.

"I think if the Solrock and the Lunatone battle, we're going to be faced with something worse than the two."

"What'll we do then?" said Tara, trying not to panic.

"We'll have to move this Solrock, or capture it..." thought Shadow aloud.

"Perhaps a Pokéball will still recognise this as a Pokémon!" said Frankston, taking a Pokéball from his pocket.

"I hope this works..." whimpered Scarlet. Alpharm was silent from behind his uneccesary sunglasses.

"Pokéball, go!" cried Frankston, tossing the ball at the moon-shape. To their dismay, the ball bounced off the rock and tumbled into the sand, rocking feebly.

"What are we going to do now?" sobbed Tara, her voice trembling.

"We need to think..." muttered Frankston in reply. However, Scarlet's shaking voice came from behind the group.

"We...don't have...time..."

Looking round, the group saw Scarlet gazing up at the sky, and their eyes immediately darted to where her gaze was situated.

Solrock was descending from the mountain.


	8. Of Myths And Pokémon

The stone moon shook violently as a beam of light from Solrock's top-most point shot into it. In moments, the whole crescent shape was glowing with an intense light. Slowly, it raised itself off of the podium, and let out a loud blast and a flash of light. When it faded, another Pokémon was floating opposite Solrock. This Pokémon was the same colour and body structure as Solrock, only it was in a crescent moon shape.

"Lunatone..." muttered Frankston, "Just like on the cave drawings..."

Marco and Tara gazed up at Lunatone's sinister beauty. It hovered motionless, facing Solrock. Suddenly, the two Pokémon dashed at each other, startling the group.

"Professor!" cried Scarlet, "These Pokémon are going to destroy everything! That's what the drawings on the cave wall must have meant!"

"Everyone, let's try to defeat these things before they defeat each other, and really mess everything up!" commanded Frankston.

"Alright, let's do this!" exclaimed Alpharm.

Alpharm's Pokéball flew high into the air, almost level with Lunatone and Solrock, before opening and releasing a large purple bug-type Pokémon with large shiney eyes and wings - a Venomoth. Venomoth made a screeching noise, and fluttered its wings rapidly.

"Venomoth, use your Stun Spore attack!" called up Alpharm. Solrock and Lunatone turned to Venomoth as it released orange dust from its wings and wafted it towards them. The spores had no effect, and Lunatone simply shot back a Hyper Beam, clipping Venomoth's wings and taking it down. Tara flinched as the overgrown insect fell towards her, before Alpharm recalled it to its Pokéball.

"Ugh..." groaned Shadow at Alpharm, "Let me do this." he finished, throwing a Hyper Ball into the air. Moments later, Charizard, an orange reptile-like Pokémon with wings and a flame burning on its scaly tail was up against the two menaces.

"Charizard, use Flamethrower!"

Upon hearing Shadow's words, Charizard roared and breathed intense flames toward Solrock and Lunatone. The pair were engulfed in the fire. Below, Shadow smirked, proud of his Pokémon. However, to his dismay, Solrock and Lunatone emerged moments later completely unscathed. Another beam from Lunatone took Charizard down. Before anyone else in the group could try battling them, Solrock and Lunatone took off over the island, spiralling round the mountain, firing Hyper Beams and tackling each other.

"This is not good." stated Frankston, wiping his brow with a handkerchief.

"Professor, what are we going to do?" worried Scarlet. Alpharm took off his sunglasses to clean them.

"Let's go back to the cave," replied Frankston, "And think this over."

The group set off back over the frozen bay. Marco looked to the horizon; black clouds were already starting to form above the rough waves.

There was silence between the group on the march back to the cave. Marco and Tara walked together, but said nothing; Frankston walked a few feet in front of everyone, constantly wiping his brow; Alpharm polished a Pokéball containing one of his Pokémon; Scarlet examined Lunatone and Solrock in her Pokédex; Shadow walked behind the group, with an air of mystery about him at all times. It went on like this until a figure moved in the trees. Everyone immediately froze and looked at the young man in a Team Rocket uniform run frantically away from something. He was pencil-thin, with short brown hair, and very large cheekbones.

"Willis!" exclaimed Frankston.

"Those things! Those things!" yelped Willis, following flat on his face in front of Frankston. Frankston kneeled down and helped him up.

"Willis, what's the matter?"

"Those things!" whimpered Willis again, "The sun thing! It froze everyone! I just saw it fly past me!"

"Come on, let's get you back to the cave." said Frankston. They set off once more.

"We've been worried about you, dude." said Alpharm warmly. "Glad to see you're still in one piece!"

"Yeah, but only just, by the looks of things..." stated Scarlet, observing the sweat and dirt over Willis.

On the walk back, Marco continued to observe the sea; the black clouds were growing, and the sea waves were now crashing aggressively upon the icy shores. The heat was also rising; it seemed as though the natural climate had been thrown-off. Inside the cave, there was no need for a fire, but they let Willis rest on some sleeping bags, as he mumbled about the "sun thing".

"Professor, we're facing a lot more than a dangerous, hostile Pokémon here." said Alpharm, looking at the drawings on the cave wall, "This could affect our planet as we know it, if we don't settle Solrock and Lunatone."

"Don't you think I know that!?" snapped Frankston. Alpharm glared at him. "I'm sorry..." he continued, "We have to think of something. Come on everyone, think!"

The idea-free evening went on, the waves growing more violent by the hour. The sky was fading to black (right now it was just dark blue). The group sat together in silence, except Shadow, who was alone outside in silence. Marco gazed at the drawings on the wall; he knew Alpharm was too, but didn't say anything to him about them. He looked at the figure beneath Solrock and Lunatone in one of the drawings; it was the basic shape of a human, but didn't look exactly like one. His concentration was disrupted when all of a sudden, Solrock and Lunatone flew into the cave, and before anyone could react, had shot beams of light at the drawings, and left. The ground and walls of the cave began to rumble, and cracks appeared on the wall where the drawings were.

"What's going on!?" shrieked Scarlet. No one replied. They were too busy watching the wall crumble to reveal a large doorway-like opening. In the debris, Marco could see a large figure emerging from the opening; it was the basic shape of a human, but didn't look exactly like one. As the dust settled, he could see more of its features; it looked like a large egg-shaped robot, with long white and black arms and short legs, claws, and large yellow shoulders. But instead of a face, it had a yellow area with a series of dots on it, not unsimilar to braille. They were in the shape of a cross. It stood in the doorway, silent, but with a terrifyingly sinister presence.

"It...it can't be..." said Frankston, just managing to get the words out.

"What..." began Tara, but she couldn't get the words out. Frankston gulped, but couldn't wipe his brow.

"Regigigas..."


	9. Temple Island's Pokémon Attacks!

The bitterly cold sea air blew across the scene, covering the silence in a glacier of suspense. Marco didn't know where to look, except at the gargantuan beast standing before him. It was like no Pokémon he'd ever seen before; he wasn't even sure if it was a Pokémon. Eventually, his brain found the power to talk.

"What...what is...it?"

Frankston gulped, and only just managed to reply.

"It's...the legendary ancient Pokémon...Regigigas..."

"Regigigas? I've...never heard of such a thing..." replied Tara, looking from Frankston to the Pokémon. She was about to talk again when Regigigas raised its massive arms and the ground started to shake violently. It slowly moved its leg, in a manner which suggested it had forgotten how to do so after a long, deep sleep, and began to stomp forward. The group started to back out of the cave away from it, until they found themselves out on the darkening beach. From nowhere, Solrock and Lunatone reappared and circled the golem. It flashed a brilliant white, and rays shot in all direction. Solrock and Lunatone took off again, as Regigigas began to walk forward again. Shaking off the fear and amazement, Marco clutched a Pokéball in his pocket.

"We can stop it."

He threw the ball into the air and Blastoise emerged, stomping the ground. Regigigas was bigger than it, but Blastoise showed no fear as it pummelled its foe with a blast of water from its cannons. However, Regigigas didn't seem to be affected by the attack whatosever. It outstretched its arm and punched Blastoise in the stomach, sending it flying into the crashing waves of the ocean. Marco gasped in surprise; no one had ever been able to do something like that to Blastoise before.

"Professor, what is this Pokémon!?" he asked loudly.

"It's an ancient myth," began Frankston, finding the courage to wipe his brow again, "A Pokémon that could move the very continents...the keeper of Regirock, Registeel and Regice."

"I once met a trainer called Ryan who owned a Regice..." stated Marco. He then realised he was starting a conversation in the middle of an apocalyptic battle. Regigigas raised its arms, ready to do battle with whatever Pokémon came its way. Before Marco could decide which Pokémon to use next, Shadow leaped in his way.

"I'll take care of this. Go, Lucario!"

Shadow threw a black-coloured ball into the air, and from it came Lucario; a wolf-like Pokémon which stood on its hind legs. It had black markings like a mask on its face, spikes on its hands and chest, and what looked like shorts on its waist, with a pointed tail protruding from them. It growled fiercely at Regigigas.

"Lucario! Metal Claw!" commanded Shadow, with as much ferocity as his Pokémon. In an instant, Lucario darted forwards, spun around and smashed Regigigas with its spiked hand. Regigigas looked dazed (well, as dazed as something without a face can look), but shook its humungous head before swinging a punch at Lucario.

"Lucario! Dodge!"

On Shadow's words, Lucario leaped high into the air, as Regigigas' fist formed a crater in the icy sand where Lucario had stood.

"Now use Rock Smash!" called Shadow. Regigigas was too slow to block Lucario soaring into its head at an incredible speed. There was a loud, sinister breaking noise as Lucario bounced off it. Regigigas' face had been cracked.

"Hmm..." said Shadow, as a form of congratulations. Lucario stood beside him, proudly.

"That sure did the trick!" Tara. She was surprised at how she could be happy in this situation. The group stood looking at Regigigas, which was holding its broken face. All of a sudden, Lunatone and Solrock appeared again. They began to circle Regigigas; within moments, the cracks on its face had been removed, and the otherworldy Pokémon seemed refreshed and ready to battle again.

"What!? This is preposterous!" cried Frankston, "They healed it!"

"I guess Regigigas must be the ruler of Solrock and Lunatone..." mused Alpharm. Regigigas stood quietly, facing Shadow. Before anyone had time to react, it began to rush towards him.

"Shadow! Watch out!" cried the group. For the first time, Shadow had a look of fear in his eyes, though his face was concealed with his bandana. Regigigas raised its deadly arm, and began to swing at Shadow. He closed his eyes, ready for the moment of impact. But from the darkness of behind his eyelids, he heard a strange sound, felt a hot sensation pass over his head, then a sound like a large rock collapsing.

He opened his eyes to see Regigigas lying on the cold ground in front of him, as though knocked out. It had a large burn mark on its chest. He looked to the others to find them staring up at the sky. He turned around and gazed up himself, to see a large black helicopter overlooming the scene. It had a big red 'R' on the side.

"What? Team Rocket...?" wondered Marco. As he said it, the door of the helicopter slid open to reveal Giovanni, leaning against the door frame, grinning. Persian stood by him, its whiskers twitching.

"Sir?" asked Alpharm aloud, before quickly trying to erase his statement. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come for my Pokémon, of course," replied Giovanni, "Fire the nets."

Upon his words, some nets fired from underneath the helicopter. They covered Regigigas, and began to give it an electric shock.

"Stop! What are you doing!?" cried Frankston, "You can't take this Pokémon!"

"And why not? With this Pokémon, I will be all-powerful. The regions will give in to my every demand." replied Giovanni, still smirking. Persian licked its paws.

"No! I cannot allow this!" yelled Frankston, "We came here to discover what secrets lay on the island! You can't capture this Pokémon! We have to return things the way they were, or the entire world is in great peril!"

Giovanni calmly lifted a glass of brandy and took a sip.

"Reel the Pokémon in." he said apathetically. The net began to drag Regigigas along the beach.

"No!" cried the group. Scarlet thought fast, and threw one of her Pokéballs.

"Go! Pikachu!"

In a flash, the small, yellow electric mouse Pokémon was facing the scene.

"Pikachu! Absorb the current from the net!"

Following her orders, Pikachu ran forward, bounces onto its tail and grabbed the net. It cried a brief holler of pain as the electric surge ran through it and into the ground. This took the electrical concentration off of Regigigas, which sprang up and broke through the net. Pikachu panted, before falling to the ground.

"Come back, sweetie!" called Scarlet. She reached out the Pokéball and Pikachu was pulled back inside. Regigigas, coming back to its senses, turned and fled from Giovanni, leaping through the woods and across the mountain range of the island.

"Argh..." groaned Giovanni, "Follow it!"

"No!" cried Marco, "You can't take it!"

The helicopter began to head in Regigigas' direction. Before it could reach full-speed, Marco ran as fast as he could along the beach, and up a huge, sloping rock implanted in the sand. Leaping into the air, he managed to grab a hold of one of the helicopter's landing beams, and it carried him into the distance.

"Marco!" cried Tara, starting to move forward. Alpharm grabbed her shoulder.

"He'll be fine." he said monosynthetically.

"What are we going to do now!?" she screamed, tears forming in her eyes.

"We have to locate Solrock and Lunatone," said Frankston, "They seem to be its key to recovering strength, so if we can stop them, then maybe Regigigas can also be stopped."

"Right!" exclaimed Scarlet.

"Scarlet, Willis, Leafwood and myself shall go to the west side of the island," Frankston continued, thrusting his hand in the respective direction, "And you two go to the east." he finished, looking at Alpharm and Tara, and pointing the opposite way.

"Got it." confirmed Alpharm. The six began to head off along the frozen coast, in search of the Pokémon, and in search of a way to prevent the fate of the entire world.


	10. A Blast From The Past

The winds seem to chase it as it ran through the painfully cold woods; frost fell from the leaves of the trees, only to be ravaged by the blizzard; the stars, usually peaceful, seemed to glare down forebodingly on it, as it escaped what was behind it. Eventually it came to a large unpassable wall, and turned back to see the natives rushing towards it, spears held aloft, large Cradily and Armaldo by their side. What did they want? Why did they want to hurt it? After all it had done for them, too. Maybe they thought it was too strong? Maybe it was because of the bad fortune that had hung over the island recently. But that wasn't its fault. An old native man stood forward from the gathered crowd and pointed a large wooden staff at it; it felt a strange sensation in its body, but it was too tired to continue running or fight. The force sent it flying back into the wall - but it didn't feel the pain of smashing against it. It seemed like the wall had become a void, and it was being pulled in. As the scene before it seemed to pan out into wall, the last thing it saw was a sun shape and moon shape rising into the sky above the tribe. Then there was darkness.

That all seemed like a day ago; and now it was happening again. Why did these people not like it? These people weren't the island's natives. Why couldn't they leave it alone? It didn't want to go fight. Not again. It stopped, thinking it had escaped its enemies. It was in a small clearing of the woods; everything was silent. The snow sat still on the ground. The wind whispered reassuringly. However, the wind started to howl sinisterly, then the wind changed to a chopping noise; and from above the trees, Giovanni's helicopter appeared, with Marco swinging from its landing beams. Regigigas immediately turned to run, but now they'd tracked it down.

"Giovanni, stop it!" yelled Marco, clinging on for grim death.

"What? Are you still here?" smirked Giovanni. He dropped his now-empty glass, and it smashed into bits on Marco's fingers. He shrieked in pain, but didn't lose his grip.

"You can't take the Pokémon! We have to seal it again! Just look at what's happening so far!"

He pointed to the sea. On the horizon, vicious lightning bolts darted from black clouds, hitting the sea, as the waves grew rougher and rougher.

"Well, people can pay me for shelter." said Giovanni dismissively. The helicopter continued to follow Regigigas over the iced landscape.

Marco looked down over the frozen slopes and snow-covered trees of the island as Giovanni carried him towards the Regi king. He'd managed to throw a leg over the landing beam, so that he didn't need to hang from it; he'd've fell off eventually. Giovanni hadn't spoke; Marco figured he thought that he must have dropped to his doom. Eventually, Regigigas came into his sights. It was standing on a rocky mountain ledge down below, looking exhausted.

"Regigigas" called Marco. The Pokémon paid no attention to him. His stomach lurched as the helicopter swooped and began to descend towards the mountain; Giovanni had obviously seen Regigigas too. The door opened once again and Giovanni looked out, another glass of brandy in his hand.

"Time to come with us, Regigigas." he snickered.

"No! Run, Regigigas!" countered Marco. Giovanni looked down at Marco, annoyed.

"Ugh, I thought I was rid of you," he groaned, "But you're too late."

The helicopter's speed increased, throwing Marco off, and crashing into the side of the mountain. He lost sense of all that was happening as he slid down the rocky cliffside, until he found himself in a large crater, much like an arena. Nursing his most painful wounds, he looked through the dust to see Regigigas not far away from him, and Giovanni's helicopter land on a ledge above, Giovanni's piercing stare burning into his eyes.

"If it can't be caught by other means, I'll use my Pokémon to capture it," he sneered, "Go! Nidoking!"

From the Pokéball came Nidoking, a powerful poison Pokémon with a pointed horn and powerful tail. It roared, showing a set of sharp fangs.

"Oh no you don't..." groaned Marco, putting his physical pain and injuries to the back of his mind, and taking out a Pokéball.

"I know this is your first battle and we've still not became friends," he whispered into it, "But I need you now! Go, Snorunt!"

He threw his newly acquired friend into battle. He and Giovanni both commanded a Take Down attack and Ice Beam attack from their companions simultaneously. Nidoking rushed towards Regigigas, as Snorunt ran towards it too, only aiming its ray of ice at Nidoking instead. The ice touched stopped it in its tracks just before it rammed into the target; however, Regigigas threw both its arms out, sending both Nidoking and Snorunt flying across the arena.

"What!?" exclaimed Marco, puzzled. He then remembered that Regigigas was fighting for itself, not alongside him. He looked into Giovanni's cold eyes, then Regigigas' cold...braille markings. This was going to be one tough battle.

Meanwhile, Tara and Alpharm walked along the coast at the edge of the island, just past the area where they'd discovered the frozen scientists. Conversation was minimal as they surveyed the area for any sign of Solrock and Lunatone.

"I sure hope Marco is okay..." whimpered Tara. Alpharm didn't quite know how to console her.

"He will be..." he said, guessing this would make her feel better. The silence continued until suddenly, Solrock and Lunatone flew closely overhead.

"There they are," said Alpharm, surprisingly casually, "Let's stop them."

They clamboured up the side of the small hill to where the sun and moon creatures were flying around.

"Go, Weezing!" shouted Alpharm, releasing his poison gas cloud Pokémon, its three heads belching green gas. Tara flinched.

"Weezing! Sludge attack!" commanded Alpharm. Tara admired his dominating leadership in battle. Weezing opened its mouths and shot purple sludge at the two Pokémon. It knocked them back, but didn't do any serious damage. Lunatone shot a hoop of light into Weezing; a Confuse Ray. Weezing began to spin around uncontrollably, before falling to the ground. Alpharm winced and recalled his Pokémon.

"Let me try!" said Tara, throwing a Pokéball into the air, "Let's go Lombre!"

In moments, the frog-like Pokémon Lombre - complete with small moustache and pond lily for a hat - was standing on the cliff edge, facing Solrock and Lunatone.

"Let's see a Water Gun!" said Tara. Obeying, Lombre shot a jet of water from its mouth, damaging both Solrock and Lunatone.

"It's working!" cheered Alpharm, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. But suddenly, Solrock and Lunatone seemed to ignore the water, and stared menacingly at the group. Solrock shot a Hyper Beam from its topmost point, while Lunatone shot one from its nose. The beams joined together and hit the cliff, causing an explosion. Tara felt the ground give way beneath her, and then she was plummeting into the dust, debris, crumbling rocks, and darkness...

Back on the other side of the island, the battle continued between Marco, Giovanni and Regigigas. Marco was suffering from his injuries, but it wouldn't stop him from stopping Giovanni. Regigigas was currently battling Giovanni's Nosepass, as Marco's Vileplume tried to help it, however, Regigigas was hostile towards all of Marco's Pokémon too.

"Regigigas! I'm trying to help you!" he called to it, hoping it would understand. It paid no attention however, and punched Vileplume away, before grappling Nosepass and pushing it away towards Giovanni.

"Oh, stop. You're pathetic." snarled Giovanni at Marco, "This Pokémon isn't going to listen to you just because you think you're on its side."

"Well, it's not going to listen to you! I won't let you capture it!" retaliated Marco. He recalled Vileplume into its Pokéball, and threw another one into the field.

"I need you! Ampharos!"

The battle continued.

"Urgh..."

Tara crawled from beneath some rocks. She felt pain all over her body, but nothing serious. She coughed, and tried to swat away the dust. All of her Pokéballs were accounted for. Slowly, she got to her feet, squinting through the debris to see the wreckage of the collapsed mountain. She then remembered that she hadn't been alone.

"Alpharm!" she cried, forgetting her pains, "Professor Alpharm! Where are you!?"

"I'm...ugh...I'm here..." came a groan from nearby. She followed the sound and found Alpharm lying on the ground, his head propped up against a large rock. Panicking, she rushed over and knelt down by him.

"Are you okay!?"

"I'll be fine..."

Looking down, Tara noticed his jacket and shirt had been torn, and underneath was a black garment with a red 'R' on the chest. It took Tara a moment to comprehend what she was seeing, then looked at Alpharm's cut face.

"You...you work for Team Rocket!?"

Alpharm was silent for a moment.

"I didn't want to say anything, in case any of you got the wrong idea about me..." he admitted, wincing in pain, "I don't like hurting Pokémon or making profit from them...I just want to research them, and Team Rocket helps me to do so...and I don't need to worry about finances or anything..."

Tara looked into his eyes, before smiling at him.

"I don't think any differently of you. I know how much you love Pokémon."

He smiled back, then reached into his jacket, withdrawing two strange black Pokéballs. He offered them to Tara, who took them gingerly.

"I got these Pokéballs from Team Rocket," he started, "They're prototypes and so do not work properly yet, but they trap Pokémon in them for a much longer time whilst you're trying to catch them."

"So what do you want me to do with them?" asked Tara, looking from the black balls to Alpharm.

"If you can find Lunatone and Solrock, you could trap them inside," he explained, "And it may give you just enough time to return them to the altars where we found them. If they're put back in place, Regigigas will lose its power, and we can seal it again."

Tara's eyes widened. Did he expect her to take on those things by herself?

"I can't do it," he continued, coughing, "I think...I think my leg is broken. Just find Scarlet or Frankston if you can, and get them to help you. I know you can do it, Tara!"

She thought about it again, before standing up and nodding.

"I'll do it."

Back at the arena, the battle raged on. The Pokémon in battle were Ampharos, Nosepass and Regigigas. The latter was showing some fatigue, but Ampharos and Nosepass were fighting fit.

"Take Down attack, now!" bellowed Giovanni to Nosepass. The Pokémon obeyed, and leaped full-force into Regigigas, doubled over in pain.

"Leave it alone!" cried Marco, "Ampharos! Thunderbolt!"

The jewel on Ampharos' head glowed, and sparks of lightning shot towards Nosepass. They ensnared the stubby Pokémon, but it was unharmed.

"Fool!" laughed Giovanni, "Rock Pokémon aren't hurt by electricity."

Regigias raised its arms and glowed; it had been healed again by the power of Solrock and Lunatone. Marco gritted his teeth. What was he to do? He had to stop Giovanni from capturing Regigigas, but he had to stop Regigigas and seal it back in the cave. It was a three-way battle, and two of the three outcomes were unthinkable...

In a small area further away, Tara had tracked down Solrock and Lunatone, and stood facing their sinister profiles. She was glad they seemed to move around together; having to locate them both individually would have been almost impossible. They never seemed to go too far away, either.

"Alright," she began, "Time to finish this! I can't let you bring down the world! This stops here!"

She withdrew a Pokéball from her pocket, containing one of her water Pokémon; they had a type advantage over Solrock and Lunatone. She grinned.

"This is it! Get ready to be captured!"


	11. Is Evolution The Solution?

Murkrow shook the drops of water off of its jet black wing and cawed silently. Perched in an air duct atop a large building called Silph Co. in Saffron City, it looked down forlornly on the streets. They were usually brightly lit and bustling with people; now, they were deserted and the only source of light came from lamp-posts fighting to continue to emit a flickering glow. The torrential rained bounced off of the ground and the winds had blown over power lines, and were cold enough to strip the skin from your face. What was going on? Pokémon were always more in tune with nature, and Murkrow could feel a very sinister presence in the vicious gales; somewhere, something bad was happening.

"Go! Vaporeon!"

With a bright burst of light, Vaporeon's sleek blue body appeared. It stood facing the two lunar Pokémon, it's mermaid-like tail and fins blowing elegantly in the cold winds. It opened its mouth and let out a siren call, awaiting Tara's instruction.

"Okay Vaporeon, no holding back! Use your Hydro Pump attack!"

Vaporeon opened its mouth, spitting a powerful jet of water at Solrock. To Tara's surprise, Solrock did not evade the attack, and was sent reeling back through the air.

"Alright Vaporeon!" she cheered, "Now get Lunatone with an Ice Beam!"

Once again, Vaporeon opened its mouth, this time releasing a laser of white light. It hit Lunatone on its pointed nose. Tara knew if her Pokémon could keep this up long enough, Lunatone would be completely frozen.

"Keep it up Vaporeon, you're doing great!"

But before Vaporeon could encase Lunatone in ice, Solrock came to its senses and darted through the ice beam, breaking its contact with the moon-shaped creature. Without stopping, Solrock spun around and fired a beam of its own at Vaporeon.

"Vaporeon, watch out!" called Tara.

Vaporeon reacted too late; as it began to jump out of harm's way, the beam hit it full-force and sent it flying backwards, hitting off of the wall of a nearby cliff. It whimpered in pain. Tara rushed over to comfort her fallen companion, her heart beating faster. She knelt beside it and stroked its head.

"You did great, Vaporeon. Now return."  
She held out Vaporeon's Pokéball. It bumped it with its nose and in a flash of light, was pulled inside. Tara scowled and withdrew another Pokéball, turning to Solrock and Lunatone.

"Alright, that's it! Come on out, Marshtomp!"

She threw the ball into the air and Marshtomp burst out of it, leaping onto the top of a tree. Marshtomp was a blue frog-like Pokémon, except it stood on two stubby legs and had a large fin protruding from its head. Its usual cheeky grin had been replaced with a look of determination to defeat its two foes.

"Marshtomp, Water Spin!" commanded Tara. Complying, Marshtomp began to spin like a top, blasting water from its mouth simultaneously. The water hit Solrock and Lunatone, who both winced in pain.

"That's it, Marshtomp! Keep going!"

Marshtomp continued to spin. Solrock and Lunatone seemed dazed; the multiple jets of water had left them disorientated. Tara knew it wasn't a good idea to ask this attack of Marshtomp for much longer.

"Okay, great!" she she congratulated once more, "Now use your Mega Punch attack!"

No sooner had it stopped spinning than Marshtomp was leaping through the air towards Lunatone. It raised its small hand which began to glow a dazzling white, before throwing a punch at its enemy. Lunatone was sent crashing into the frosty ground, and lay motionless on the ground. Tara knew this was her chance.

"I hope this works..." she said, taking out one of the black Pokéballs, and enlarging it to capturing size by pressing the button on the front of it. She threw it towards Lunatone. It bounced off of its crescent person and pulled it inside. The ball lay wriggling on the ground; she did not have much time to return it to the altar before Lunatone had recovered and would try to escape. As she walked towards the black ball, Solrock descended from the sky and floated above her; she had almost forgotten about it.

"Solrock, like it or not, I'm returning you and Lunatone to where you came from!" she yelled at it. It responded by throwing an orb of light at her from its top-most point. She jumped out of the way as the orb exploded where she had stood, causing a large indent in the ground. She scrambled to her feet and snatched the shaking black Pokéball, as Solrock shot more projectiles at her.

"Marshtomp! Stay here and fight Solrock while I get Lunatone back to the altar!" she shouted to her Pokémon, which was once again standing on top of the same tree. As Marshtomp hit Solrock with a Water Gun attack, she took off down the coast.

Meanwhile, Marco continued to battle Giovanni and Regigigas. His aim was to defeat Giovanni, then return Regigigas to the cave. If they could seal Regigigas in the cave once more, the weather would clear up, and everyone would be safe. He squinted over the debris to the horizon; the storm clouds were getting darker, and there was torrential rain pouring from them, lightning striking the ocean's violent waves. He dreaded to think what this was doing to the people back on the mainland; this weather was more than capable of destroying buildings, and if it got worse, people's lives were at steak. Strangely, the sky directly above the island was fairly dark, but it was not raining. The clouds above the island moved rapidly, rippling like water. A crash snapped him out of his daydream; Ampharos and Nosepass had been knocked down by Regigigas. The imperial Pokémon raised its arms in fury; it didn't want to fight. Likewise, Marco did not wish to fight it, but he had to protect it from Giovanni, as well as return it to the cave.

"Giovanni, leave this Pokémon alone!" he bellowed.

"I take orders from no one," replied Giovanni, "Especially a child!"

Giovanni recalled Nosepass, and threw another Pokéball. From it emerged a gigantic snake like creature, but its body was made entirely of jagged metal boulders; a Steelix. Marco felt a cold sensation in the pits of his stomach upon seeing the fearsome beast; his Quilava was his only remaining Pokémon capable of battling, and its chances of beating Steelix were slim. Nevertheless, he took the Pokéball from his pocket.

"I know this will be a tough battle for you, but you've got to try your best," he whispered into it, "Go, Quilava!"

In a bright flash, Quilava appeared on the battlefield. The flames on its back burned with an intensity which suggested it was determined to win. It scampered out to where Steelix stood facing Regigigas. Marco looked on fearfully; Quilava was only around two feet high when it stood up, while the towering Steelix stood at around thirty feet tall.

"That runt has no place in this battle!" mocked Giovanni, "Steelix, take it out!"

Steelix's terrifying face turned to look at the small Pokémon gazing up at it. Marco dreaded to think what would happen next, and considered recalling Quilava to its Pokéball for safety. But then he looked into the eyes of his Pokémon; there was no trace of fear or doubt, not even a flicker. Marco's eyes glistened as he remembered when he'd first met Quilava when it was still a Cyndaquil, its pre-evolution. He had been walking home through the woods outside Cherrygrove; the rain was fierce, and the winds made it difficult to walk properly. As he struggled through the trees, Marco noticed a flickering orange flame in the bushes. Curious, he marched over to inspect. Inside the bush, curled in a ball and badly wounded, was a baby Cyndaquil. Feeling a great deal of sympathy and compassion for it, Marco extended a friendly hand to the little creature. He gently stroked its face, and it looked at him hopefully. Thunder roared far away; Marco knew Cyndaquil needed shelter, especially being a fire Pokémon - they weren't fond of rain. He picked up the quivering creature, and cradling it in his arms, carried it back to his house, its little snout snuggling into his neck. He'd let it stay with him, nursing it until it was fully recovered, before returning it to the woods. But when he set it down on the grass where he found it, the Cyndaquil wouldn't return to its habitat; it wanted to stay with Marco. From then on, they'd became the best of friends, and Cyndaquil had stood by him all the way on his Pokémon journey, and helped him in countless situations. He also remembered the day they were in a lone mountain range, and Cyndaquil had evolved into the Quilava it was now. That feeling of pride was the same one surging through Marco at this very moment.

"You can do it, Quilava! I know you can!"

No sooner had he called these words of encouragement, than something unexpected happened. Quilava stood up on its hind legs, and its flames burned brighter than they ever had in the past. A bright light began to seep from the Pokémon's body, and soon, its figure had became a white flash. It then began to change shape and grow taller, morphing into something different. The bright light faded, and Marco looked in awe at the Pokémon that Quilava had become: Typhlosion. It looked similar to Quilava, only it was now just under six feet tall, and looked a lot more muscular. Its sharp fangs gleamed, and its flames were much larger and burned fiercely. Giovanni wasn't impressed.

"Still no match for Steelix. Steelix, attack Regigigas, now!"

Turning away from Typhlosion, Steelix glared at Regigigas and began to dive headfirst towards it.

"Typhlosion! Fire Punch!" commanded Marco. His 'new' Pokémon intercepted Steelix, punching the side of its face with a strong, fiery first. Steelix groaned, and raised its head again.

"What!? You insolent little brat!" grunted Giovanni, "Steelix, strike it with your tail, then go for Regigigas!"

Steelix's torso remained still, but its tail swung round and slammed into Typhlosion. The force knocked it through the air and to the ground.  
"Typhlosion! Are you okay? Get up! You have to fight!"

Typhlosion struggled to its feet and turned to its enemy. Steelix was pushing its large head into Regigigas, who was holding it back with its powerful arms, but almost collapsing under the weight. Typhlosion hit Steelix with its Flamethrower attack, turning its body a molten orange colour. It backed away from Regigigas in pain.

"Alright! Nice job!" called Marco. But Typhlosion was losing its energy quickly; Steelix was immensely powerful, and that one attack had almost knocked it out.

"Enough of this!" yelled Giovanni, "Steelix! Get rid of those pests with an Earthquake attack!"

Steelix stretched itself upwards, distant lightning reflecting in its body. Before Marco or Typhlosion had time to react, it crashed down into the ground with an incredibly powerful force. The ground shook and cracks began to race from Steelix's jaws, tearing up the earth, as the landscape began to crumble, dust rising and blowing in the growingly violent winds. Typhlosion fell backwards with a roar and was hit by the soaring debris, falling out of sight and into the rubble.

"Typhlosion, no!" cried Marco, shielding his eyes from the sand. Giovanni laughed with satisfaction; Regigigas was now his for the taking.

Beads of cold sweat ran down Tara's face as she dashed along the endless shoreline, clutching the wriggling Pokéball containing Lunatone. She didn't dare look back; all she could do was continue to run. Marshtomp couldn't hold off Solrock forever, and it would come for her at the first chance that it got. Another wild Snorunt scampered into the woods as she ran towards it, but she had no time to observe the wildlife. Her eternal sprint finally brought her to a place she recognised; the cave where they had set up camp. Her feet were moving faster than her heart was beating; the altar wasn't too far away now. Suddenly, a beam of light hit the ground behind her, and she was sent flying forwards, landing on her face. Quickly coming to her senses, she turned around to see Solrock floating above her, a murderous look in its sinister eyes. Its point was glowing brightly, about to fire at her again. Just then, a strange bone-shaped object hit it, breaking its concentration. A figure then landed in front of Tara - it was Shadow. The bone flew back into the hand of a Marowak, standing on a nearby cliff.

"Good job, Marowak." said Shadow softly.

"Shadow!" exclaimed Tara. She still hadn't recovered from the initial shock.

"This cannot go on," said Shadow, "Giovanni cannot capture a Pokémon such as Regigigas. I don't want to be part of this; I don't care about the money. We have to stop it."

She didn't hesitate to comply; scooping up the black Pokéball, she took off once more towards the altar, leaving Shadow battling Solrock, forcing it back to the other altar.

Through the sandstorm, Marco watched as Steelix glared menacingly at Regigigas, with Giovanni laughing from the helicopter above the scene. There was nothing he could do to prevent Regigigas' capture now; his Pokémon were all knocked out. But he couldn't stand there and watch Giovanni take this ancient being. Losing all sense of reality, he found himself running towards the two Pokémon, at the same time Steelix began to nose dive into Regigigas. He dived through the dust-polluted air into the void between the two Pokémon, in a last resort attempt to save Regigigas. He began to faint, and everything went dark as he felt the force of the metal snake collide with his body. Clinging to the hope that Regigigas was alright, he slipped into unconciousness, as the storms on the horizon grew ever fiercer.


	12. The Void Behind The Wall

As Marco opened his eyes, the first thing to pour into his pupils was the sight of the sky, now a dark blue colour, with what seemed like whips of red lightning pulsating wildly within it. There was still dust and debris riding the wind above him. There seemed to be no sound audible in the area, as if time had frozen still; he felt like he'd just awoken from a sleep during which a significant amount of time had elapsed. In a flash, his memory of the situation returned to him, and he struggled to his feet and looked around. He was on top of some rubble slightly farther down from where the battle had begun. Only when he tried to take a step he realised that his entire body was on fire with agony; Steelix had rammed into him at full force. While he was in pain all over, it did not feel like he had broken any bones. But where was Regigigas? Had it been harmed in the attack? Had Giovanni already taken it? If he had been successful in its capture, the world would soon be in a great turmoil than it was now. Marco had noticed that the frost and snow on the hills had begun to melt and form trickles of water - the climate of this area was being thrown off-course already. His train of thought was then knocked off its rails as a huge figure slithered from behind a pile of debris; Steelix was still here. It raised its head again and glared at Marco. Above it, the helicopter appeared, Giovanni standing in its doorway, seething with anger. Marco found his throat was sore and his mouth was dry, but he managed to shout to Giovanni.

"What have you done with Regigigas?"

"I've no idea where that beast has went," he snapped back, "But it will be easier to find if obstacles like you are removed."

"You don't know what you're doing!" bellowed Marco at the Team Rocket leader.

"Are you still bitter about losing to me?" chuckled Giovanni, "Here, take this if it means that much to you."

He reached into his breast pocket and removed a small object, and casually dropped it. It fell through the debris, somehow still glinting, and Marco caught it in his hand. He examined it closely; it was a small, shiny image of a sprout - an Earth badge. Before he had time to decide whether to feel happiness or continued distress, Giovanni spoke again.

"Now, erase this pest, Steelix."

A flicker of fear swept across Marco's face as he turned to the giant iron serpent began to lunge at him. Time seemed to move slowly as it moved towards where he stood. He simply couldn't take another hit like that, it would finish him off for sure. He closed his eyes and raised his hands in a pointless attempt to prevent his demise. Instead of feeling the impact though, he felt a slight tremor in the rubble, a loud slamming sound and Steelix roaring in pain. He slowly opened his eyes and lowered his arms to see Steelix with its eyes closed tightly, shaking its head, in which there was a large crack and dent. Standing in front of Marco, fist still outstretched, was Regigigas.

The altar came into view as Tara rounded a group of trees, the ice on their leaves melting quicker by the minute. The ball containing Lunatone shook violently as the strange being inside tried to escape, to partner with Solrock and continue to disrupt the elements. Her legs were on fire with agony, but there was no chance of her stopping. Upon reaching the altar, she released the ball from her grip; it was a relief like no other she had felt before, as though the bones in her hands were reassuming their correct position after being horribly mutated. As the black Pokéball exploded and Lunatone emerged, Tara instinctively threw up a Pokéball of her own.

"Lombre! Hydro Pump! And give it all you've got!"

From the ball, Lombre sprang into the air and immediately inhaled, releasing the most powerful jet of water it could from its mouth. Lunatone was slammed downwards by the force, and came into contact with the stone altar. Tara watched as the Pokémon began to glow a strange yellow colour, and in moments, it had turned back to stone, as it had looked when they originally found it. Tara sank to her knees and gave out a lengthy sigh, as Lombre landed next to her from its aerial attack, and leaned against her side to comfort her. She smiled weakly, putting her arm around her companion. They had sealed Lunatone again; but what of Solrock? And moreso, what of Regigigas?

Marco stood motionless, watching the silent scene in disbelief; Regigigas had saved him. He glanced at Steelix, still wincing in pain, then back at the golem before him. It lowered its fist from its attack, and turned slowly to face Marco. The Pokémon had no facial features, but somehow Marco knew it was sort of nodding to him, as if to say "I trust you." Marco nodded back to it. The fact he was working with a legendary, powerful Pokémon was beyond anything he could comprehend. At that point, Giovanni's voice came from the helicopter. Marco had almost forgotten he was there.

"Steelix! Enough of this! Use Gyro Ball this instant!"

Steelix looked back at Regigigas. It opened its mouth, and some sparks began to appear inside. Marco didn't know what a Pokémon like Regigigas was capable of, so he gave the first command he knew it would be able to perform.

"Regigigas! Rock Throw!"

Almost instantly, Regigigas reached down, clutched a large rock, and effortlessly hurled it through the air, just as Steelix shot its Gyro Ball attack. The rock passed through the pulsating orb of energy, disintegrating it, and slammed into Steelix's face with an almighty crash. It roared in pain once again, and lowered its head slightly, losing its energy to battle.

"Gah!" cried Giovanni from above, "Steelix! Get up!"

But Steelix did not move. Giovanni became enraged.

"Fire the nets!"

The underside of the helicopter opened once again, and the thick netting shot out towards Regigigas. This time however, without Marco's command, Regigigas grabbed the net, and in one pull, brought the helicopter flying towards it. Marco knew this was their chance to end it. Slightly excited by what he was about to say, Marco pointed at the rapidly descending helicopter.

"Regigigas! Giga Impact!"

Time seemed to slow down as Regigas drew back both of its massive arms, which began to glow a brilliant blue colour. Moments before the helicopter hit its body, it swung them out once more and smashed them into the vehicle's underside with an inconceivable force. The helicopter went hurling into the air, at least a thousand feet from the ground, before unstably maneuvering away from the island through the mass of dark clouds.

"You did it!" cheered Marco, looking at the legendary Pokémon. It started back at him, and he began to feel uneasy; what was he supposed to do now? He took a few steps towards it.

"Now we can return everything to normal."

With that, the Pokémon turned and took off over the debris and out of sight. Marco was about to give chase when something he'd forgotten came back to him with a lurch in his stomach; Typhlosion was still missing. He couldn't leave his first companion behind, could he? Of course it would only be for the time being, but what if it was badly hurt and needed his help? He scanned the area, looking for signs of movement, but there were none. He called out a command from his Pokémon, but no fire came blasting from beneath any debris. With something wet forming in his right eye, he forced himself to run in the direction of Regigigas.

At the eastern peninsula, Solrock floated in front of its altar, showing signs of fatigue; Shadow had managed to force it back here. He and Marowak now stood facing its scratched and chipped body, its eyes glaring at them with a look that said it was not giving up.

"Alright Solrock, time for you to go back..." said Shadow, pointing a finger at the Pokémon, "Marowak! Mega Punch!"

Marowak ran forwards, and using its bone as a vaulting pole, hurled itself into the air. It outstretched its fist and darted into Solrock, sending the solar creature crashing down. It collided with the altar, and in a bright yellow flash, was conjoined with it once again.

"Thank you, Marowak." nodded Shadow. He held out a Pokéball and Marowak was pulled back inside. Before he had a moment to rest, there was a loud crashing noise coming from the direction they had just travelled. The baron turned on his heel and took off along the coast, his cape billowing in the cruel winds.

Outside the cave where they had originally set up camp, Regigigas stood with its arms stretched into the air, clearly distressed. It seemed to wince as it faced the entrance of the cave, from where it had emerged. Marco came running from the trees, just as Shadow appeared in the distance, quickly approaching the scene, while Tara and Marshtomp appeared with Leafwood, Frankston, Scarlet, while Willis was coming from further behind, supporting a wounded Alpharm.

"Marco! What's happening?" called Frankston.

"Regigigas defeated Giovanni," replied Marco, as the group got close enough to talk normally, "But now it seems to be enraged. It ran away from me afterwards-"

"I understand!" exclaimed Leafwood, interrupting Marco.

"What? What do you understand?" asked Scarlet, who seemed to be getting excited.

"The ancient writings on the cave wall. It's what I thought earlier. The Solrock and Lunatone here are not like others of their species; they act as a seal on Regigigas. That itself is some sort of paranormal being; it must have been sealed here long ago, because of...well, look at what's happening now that it's released."

There was a huge clap of thunder and a flash of lightning, as if the weather had been waiting for its cue.

"This isn't going to stop - this storm - and who knows how much worse it's going to get. The only way to stop it will be to seal Regigigas back in the cave, which shouldn't be too hard now that Solrock and Lunatone are gone."

"Shouldn't be too hard!?" cried Tara, "Look at that thing! We could never defeat something like that!"

Leafwood didn't look at her, but replied.

"Solrock and Lunatone were giving it energy whenever we battled before. Now that they're sealed once more, our combined efforts should be able to take it down."

They all turned to look at Regigigas, which was standing silently still, somehow aware of what they were planning. Shadow stood on the other side of it, also prepared for combat, clutching a Pokéball.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Marco cheered, a surge of leadership in his veins. The imperial waves crashed up against the snow-and-sand mixture of the beach as all of the group drew their Pokéballs. Looking at them all, Marco found himself a little eager to find out what Pokémon they would use; he had been through all this with these people, but still didn't know much about them.

"Hitmonlee!" cried Leafwood, releasing the humanoid fighting Pokémon. It kicked its elasticated legs as a sort of warm-up.

"Drifblim, go!" commanded Frankston, throwing a white Pokéball into the air. Marco had never seen this Pokémon before; it resembled a hot air balloon, with a white tuft of hair, beady red eyes and a patch for a mouth.

"Come on out, Jumpluff!" said Scarlet, taking her turn. The blue cotton spore Pokémon bounced high into the air, blowing slightly in the rough winds. Marco remembered seeing many of its pre-evolved form, Hoppip, floating on in the fields next to his house back in the Johto region. Alpharm then slowly reached into his pocket, wincing in pain as he did, and threw a Pokéball. From it came Nidoking, a fierce armoured creature with a large horn protruding from its nose. At the same time Willis threw a black Pokéball and from it came Electivire. Marco had read about this Pokémon, but had never encountered one in the flesh. It reminded him of a typical alien, except it was also furry, its yellow and black hairs standing on end as some static buzzed its way down its body from its antennas. It didn't seem like the sort of rare Pokémon that a lowly Rocket grunt like Willis would be partners with; perhaps it had been given to him by Giovanni? Marco watched as the last Pokémon, Marshtomp, entered the battle. There was nothing he could do but observe; none of his Pokémon were fighting fit, and one was missing completely.

Nidoking charged at Regigigas in an attempt to jab it with its poison horn, but Regigigas simply outstretched an arm and held Nidoking at a distance, before swinging another arm round and sending the poison pin Pokémon flying sideways into the sand. Electivire then ran towards Regigigas, drew its arm back, and swung. Again, Regigigas grabbed its opponent, but the latter giving off an electric shock when their arms made contact. Regigigas trembled as the electrical surge ran through its massive body, but then managed to push Electivire away from itself. Electivire then clenched its static fists and released a Thunderbolt attack, which hit Regigigas in its braille-like face. The large Pokémon stumbled back, but did not lose its balance. As Drifblim approached it, it raised its mighty arms, and with a tremor, some large rocks emerged from the ground and began to fly in the blimp creature's direction. It was successful in avoiding the majority of them, until one slammed into it with a force that would have knocked the heaviest Snorlax over, never mind a light balloon-type being. It soared helplessly backwards in the icy winds.

"Help Drifblim, Hitmonlee!" ordered Leafwood. Upon its master's command, the kicking Pokémon darted forward, jumping seemlessly over the rocks which were now being thrown at it by the mysterious force emitted from Regigigas. As it approached the area below where Drifblim was caught in a vortex of wind, it jumped, kicked off of one of the rocks and bounced high into the air, grabbing Drifblim by one of its four small arms. It then landed in front of Regigigas - releasing Drifblim on the way down - and began aiming a series of lightning-fast kicks at it. Regigigas lowered its arms (the monopoly of rocks ceasing) and crossed them, as a sort of shield from Hitmonlee's diamond-hard sole. It seemed to be holding up well against the kicks, until it was hit by a force from behind. Hitmonlee darted out of the way as it toppled forwards (but still not collapsing) revealing Drifblim, the remnants of a Hyper Beam attack still burning in the air around its mouth.

"Good job, Drifblim!" cheered Frankston.

"Jumpluff, Sleep Powder!" commanded Scarlet. The cotton spore - also perhaps too light for this situation - bounced forward and started to shake a gold powder from its cotton spores. Regigigas's head began to droop, but Jumpluff's powers simply weren't capable of putting it to sleep - enough however, to prevent it from noticing Hitmonlee and Nidoking coming running towards and slamming it simultaneously. This time, the imperial beast's body was sent flying backwards and into the mouth of the cave.

"Alright! That's doing it!" exclaimed Marco, wishing he could partake. Regigigas raised its arms again in fury, and a silver-blue glow surrounded its right arm, which it then moved across its face, similar to its shield gesture from minutes ago. It then however, moved its arm quickly back to the right, creating a huge whip-like string of light, which slashed across Hitmonlee and Nidoking, who instantly fell to the ground, almost knocked out. Regigigas itself was showing serious signs of fatigue; its own attack seemed to have taken a lot out of it.

"We can't give up now!" shouted Frankston, "If we can push it back into the wall where it came from, I think we can seal it once more!"

"Nidoking! Get up, and use Horn Drill!" bellowed Alpharm. Nidoking struggled to its feet, but began to dash forward as if it was in no pain at all. A conical white light appeared around its horn and began to spin rapidly, like a drill. Before Regigigas had a chance to defend itself, Nidoking had jabbed the horn right into its stomach area. Marco wasn't surprised to see Regigigas collapse backwards; Horn Drill was an extremely powerful move.

"That got it!" cheered Leafwood, recalling Hitmonlee who had collapsed from exhaustion. The Pokémon trainers jogged forwards into the cave as Regigigas slowly pulled itself up off of the ground. Before anyone had a chance to command their Pokémon to make their next move, it raised its arms once more, and a ball of light appeared between its hands. Behind it, the space behind where Regigigas had come from glowed a mysterious blue.

"That's a Hyper Beam attack!" cried Frankston, worriedly.

"It'll probably bring this entire cave to the ground! Then we can't win!" replied Scarlet, tears beginning to line her eyes. Despite the rumble of the earth as Regigigas charged its attack, there seemed to be a silence for a moment, before Willis's wavering voice spoke:

"Electivire! Solarbeam attack!"

For some reason, Willis was the last person Marco had expected to make such a bold move. Regigigas hurled its arms forward as the ball of light began to fire a thick beam of dazzling white-hot light which illuminated the entire cave, while a similar ray of solar energy tore into the scene from outside and into Electivire's antennas, which it then released as a similar attack, only light green in colour. The two intense rays collided; Electivire was knocked back a few feet, but maintained its balance and continued to hold its attack against Regigigas's.

"Willis, what excellent work!" Frankston congratulated the Rocket, who had a newfound glint of courage in his eye.

"What?" said Marco, half curious as to what Frankston meant, half taken aback at why a Team Rocket member should ever be congratulated (and perhaps another half curious as to how an electric Pokémon knew a grass attack; rigorous training or genetic tampering on the part of Team Rocket, perhaps?).

"Hyper Beam is an attack of solely concentrated energy from the Pokémon's spirit," began Frankston, as though this was an appropriate time to give a lecture, "There are only four forces more powerful than that; the elements."

Marco clicked instantly, and realised how worthy of credit Willis was at this moment; he had harnessed the power of the earth element to counter Hyper Beam.

"Earth! Now we need water! You, girl!" he bellowed, pointing at Tara, "Your Marshtomp!"

Without waiting for Tara's command, Marshtomp opened its mouth and spewed the most powerful jet of water it could into the pulsating orb of spirit and solar energy in the centre of the two beams. It must have helped, since Electivire was able to pace forward a few steps, the strain apparently decreasing. Marco wondered where the wind element was going to come from.

"Drifblim! Aeroblast!" answered Frankston, in the form of an attack command. Drifblim floated into position, before inhaling as much air as it could, its bulbous body inflating to an even bigger size, before releasing the vaccumed air as a swirling jet, which joined the melée of forces. Regigigas was now being pushed back from whence it came.

"Does anyone have any Pokémon with fire capabilities!?" panicked Frankston. Every second was invaluable now; despite the battle being three-on-one, Regigigas was still holding its own, and their Pokémon may lose their power at any moment. And if the cave was destroyed...

The group looked from Frankston to one another, before realising no one had any fire Pokémon. They watched helplessly as Regigigas's Hyper Beam slowly began to overcome the other three attacks, the users of which now sweating uncontrollably. None of the trainers spoke as they began to come to terms with the sequence of events which was about to ensue; their Pokémon wouldn't be able to hold off any longer, the Hyper Beam would destroy the entire cave (and perhaps the Pokémon too), and Regigigas would be freed forever. Marco, a lover of all Pokémon, never thought he'd want to see one trapped against its own will; this was different from catching a Pokémon in a Pokéball, this was sealing one into an eternal sleep. Marco looked into its effete face, and couldn't believe he had been in control of it for a short period. What right did they have to deny it a life like all other wild Pokémon? But they had to lock it back in the wall, or all other wild Pokémon would be denied life. The orb was now moving faster towards the three Pokémon and away from Regigigas; any second now, their attacks would break, and the beam would hit.

The blast of raging fire came from behind the group of trainers and into the centre of the ball of energy. The entire thing hissed and turned a bright yellow colour, with flames, sparks, and visible gusts of wind and jets of water encircling it; it resembled the sun, if anything. Marco and the others followed the trail of flames to the source; the mouth of a badly scarred and bruised Typhlosion, nonetheless with a fire burning in its eyes as it battled to protect its trainer and best friend. Marco felt something move inside him, and blinked in an attempt to dry the tears now welling up in his eyes.

"Everyone! Just a little more!" came the voices of Frankston, Tara and Willis. The Pokémon increased the intensity of their attacks to the point where the pain seared through their bodies. The "sun" began to move back towards Regigigas, and suddenly, there was an almighty sound of an explosion, and a flash which Marco was surprised didn't blind everyone. Regigigas took the full blow of the four elemental powers and was launched back into the space where it had first emerged. The group watched as it lost control of its body and was suspended in mid-air as it crossed the border of the cave and the void beyond the wall. Then, the debris from the hole in the wall began to re-position themselves, building the wall again. It looked to Marco like a video being rewound, and the film being shown backwards. What an absurd thing to be thinking about at a time like this. As the last rock drifted into place, he caught one last glimpse of Regigigas; there was an air of peace about its face. Peace, or perhaps acceptance. The wall shook slightly, and then settled, as though a creature had never emerged from it and set to bring about the apocalypse. The four embodiers of the elements collapsed, and all was silent.

The group sat in a comfortable silence as the boat carried them back to the Kanto region, the weather now at peace and the sun setting on the horizon. Shadow, as reclusive as ever, stood at the rear, looking back at the island he wouldn't forget in a hurry, and the other boat on which the now-unfrozen scientists and Team Rocket members were finding their way back home. Cress was sitting inside, nursing a cup of cocoa, none the wiser of what had just happened. He listened to Scarlet and Frankston's account of the story, bewildered as to how he could have missed all of this when it was going on around him. Marco sat listening intently; there was no point in even trying to forget the tale, so he may as well embrace it. He couldn't wait to get back to the mainland and let his Pokémon have a nice long rest in the Vermilion City Pokémon Center, especially Typhlosion. He would also have to get better acquainted with Snorunt, he thought. He looked from his bundle of Pokéballs to the Earth badge, and smiled. All he needed now was one more gym badge and he could enter the Pokémon League at the Indigo Plateau. But as far as he was concerned, the ordeal was over. He knew that somewhere, Regigigas was nodding off into _another_ eternal sleep.

At the front of the boat, Tara and Alpharm stood looking at the horizon.

"You were amazing," smiled Tara, "Your Nidoking really came through."

"Oh, I don't know..." blushed Alpharm, "I think you're due more credit than I am. What you did with Marshtomp was incredible. If it wasn't for you, we may not have defeated Regigigas."

"If it wasn't for _all of us _we wouldn't have done it." she replied. She turned to face him, and her eyes darted to the tattered Team Rocket shirt he was wearing. He noticed, and quickly pulled his coat over the logo.

"I'm quitting," he began, as though to redeem himself, "I want nothing more to do with Team Rocket after this. I'll find a better team of scientists to work with."

She smiled at him. There was a few moments of silence, before she tip-toed slightly (he was taller than her) and kissed him quickly, before walking back inside to join the others. Alpharm looked stunned.

As the sun finally subsided and the stars began their shift, Murkrow opened its eyes, yawned with a "Caw!" and stretched its dark wings. Stumbling slightly to the edge of its hollow in the tree near Pallet Town, it took off into the cool night air once more. It looked over Saffron City, its neon lights flickering and glowing like candles, like the fires that had burned in the hearts of the heroes who had overcome a sinister ancient power to save the world which people and Pokémon would continue to share together.


	13. Afterword From The Author

Greetings Earthlings! This is the author of 'Pokémon: The Curse of Temple Island' speaking.

I'd just like to take this page to say a big thank you to everyone who read the story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Sorry that it occasionally took me quite a while to add new chapters, but I do have a life outside of the Internet! A special thank you to the people who reviewed and commented my story; even if just _one_ person had enjoyed it I'd be satisfied, but the statistics of people who have been reading it have really overwhelmed me. I thank you all, and please feel free to review and critique the finished piece.

I'm taking a break from writing fiction for a while, but I have ideas for more stories floating around the old noggin. One is another Pokémon story featuring...well, I wouldn't want to ruin it, would I? And the other is based on one of my favourite songs. I'll probably name it after the song ('Face The Night'), and it will be about a guitarist from a rock band who leaves the group in the early stages to be with his girlfriend, only for the band to achieve global success and superstardom, and him caught between his dreams and his love for his woman. I'm unsure if these will _definitely_ be done, but I assure you I will give it a go! Anything I do write will be posted on my Fanfiction page (just click 'Cyst' at the top there to access it!).

Well, I've just discovered a spot on my back that really hurts, so I'm going to go lie face down on the couch.

Peace, love, and rock 'n' roll,

Cyst.


End file.
